Kim KardashianViennese 'Blackface' Guy ApologizesI'm Not a Racist!!!

2/28/2014 9:30 AM PST

The weirdo who came up to Kim Kardashian in blackface at the Vienna Opera Ball -- pretending to be Kanye West -- now claims the entire encounter was a misunderstanding ... insisting he's NOT a racist ... and didn't mean to offend her.

Chris Stephan -- a stand-up comedian in Austria -- just posted the apology on his Facebook, saying he's "incredibly sorry" things unfolded the way they did. He says he's of Arab descent himself, and never intended to be racist.

As we reported, Kim stormed outof the fancy pants ball yesterday after Stephan came up to her in black face make-up, acting like Kanye.

Kim was paid $500,000 to be the guest of Austrian businessman Richard Lugner at the event. Lugner later said Kim was a crappy date.